Evangelism Coach

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I was reading a thread on one of the Bible Forums I belong to, and came across a great post answering the question "How do you start witnessing to somebody?" 

That’s a great question.

I’ve been a Christian for nearly 20 years and witnessing simply seems natural to me.  It is the overflow of my heart — I have a vibrant relationship with Christ and that spills out of me.  But how does one start when you are a young Christian?

Here is a partial list from one of the responses:

1. Make known that you are a Christian. (2 Corinthians 3.2)
2. Be blameless as you are an ambassador for Christ (2 Peter 3.14)
3. Pray for opportunities (1 Thess 5.17 and 1 Peter 3.15)

To that list, I would add the following.

1. Notice when the Holy Spirit "underlines" the moment for a conversation.

Noticing when God prompts you for a conversation is a skill that is learned as you grow in your relationship with Christ.  There is no script for that.

Let me ask you this?

Have you developed the art of noticing whom God is underlining for you?

Yesterday, I met with fellow blogger Jimmy Kinnaird here in Atlanta to discuss personal evangelism.  We had a great meeting at Starbucks, and it was awesome putting a real face on a real person that I first met because of our blogging interest on personal evangelism.

An idea we kicked around is about an evangelism coaching group. 

It is a a group that meets somewhat regularly, for people who are passionate and excited about evangelism.  The group meeting has a simple structure to discuss questions of evangelism practice.  It’s meant to keep the personal evangelistic temperature high, and an accountability group to make sure we are doing personal evangelism.

Questions:

1. What has Jesus done with you or for you since we last met? (Noticing the current activity of God).
2. Who did you have a spiritual conversation with this week?

The follow-up questions are all to debrief a conversation

1. How did you notice that it was time to have a spiritual conversation?
2. How did it start?
3. Where is that person’s spiritual thirst?
4. What questions were raised?W
5. What questions did you ask?
6. In hindsight, what would you have done differently?
7. What do you think is the persons next step spiritually?
8. How can we pray for you in that endeavor?

By having a coaching group, we can continue to sharpen our skills in personal evangelism.

I’ve started an online version of this as an experiment.  Click to go to the post about the Evangelism Encounter Discussion Group.  It might work, might not, don’t know but thought we’d try.

In some of our weekend Evangelism Training Seminars, we often can build in a practical exercise in personal evangelism, a “lab time,” where people can leave the retreat setting and venture out to do evangelism in the style that we teach.  It is modeled after Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. 

The basic premise is that we ask God to show us in whom he is working to draw unto Himself and then ask God how to participate in that work.  Phillip was sensitive to the Lord’s leading to “Go stand next to that Chariot.”  Likewise, we listen for those promptings.

The conversation that follows develops out of the context and the direction that the Lord gives.

“On the way to Gaza”

So we spend time in prayer and then give about 5 hours for people to find their “desert road on the way to Gaza” to see who they will encounter.

“Go stand next to that chariot”

When the people go out with a simple task of asking God to point out where he is working, I’m always personally amazed at the ease of conversation.  Sometimes we plant, we water, or we harvest. 

We always find people who are easily talkative about spiritual things, about their life, and in some cases, have pretty open questions.  Conversations that follow are not forced, but natural.

Lab time

Its a great exercise and over the years, the stories that have come back have been encouraging to see God at work.

So how can one provide effective practice sessions in a local evangelism training session?

1. Provide time for practical evangelism experience.
2. Build in time for feedback after each evangelism activity.
3. Include positive and constructive feedback for each encounter.
4. Help groups monitor their time (some feedback discussions chase theological rabbit trails)
5. Do it again.

When the people return from their outing, we have a debriefing time.  We allow people to share their stories and we ask questions to help evaluate each encounter. 

Some questions I like to ask are:

1. “How did God point out that person to you?”
2. “Where did you notice God was already at work?”
3. “What was their spiritual thirst?”
4. “What would you do differently?”
5. “What did you share about Christ?”

Let me ask you this?

Think about your last encounter where you engaged a person in a spiritual conversation.  Answer the questions above.  If you would like help discussing your encounters, we provide 1-1Evangelism Coaching

If you’d like to have Evangelism Training workshops or seminars locally, see our various options at our Live Evangelism Training page.  

Thanks to Evangelism Action, I read a sermon by John Piper about the story of Philip and the Eunuch. You can click on

The Leading of the Lord in Personal Evangelism :: Desiring God

to read the manuscript, or download the audio feed.

My own comments on that same passage is here.

For more in our series:
The Apostle Paul
Simon the Sorcerer
Ethiopian Eunuch
Psidian Antioch
Sergius Paulus
Cornelius

Blessings,

Chris.

Question: Why Do Atheists Object to Evangelism & Proselytization?

This is an interesting article on an atheist oriented site that expresses how some evangelisitic “sharing” comes across to the person we are talking to.

Notice the key point: “Although Christians may profess to be doing a good deed by sharing their religion with others, in reality it’s very often the case that they are simply not treating non-believers with the respect and consideration they deserve. . . . Atheists are treated not as human beings worthy of equal consideration, but as targets — almost as if they are being hunted. It shouldn’t be a surprise when atheists find this annoying and complain.”

The basic contention is that often times, we Christians treat the other person as a “project” or “object.” We form “strategic relationships” with the idea of leading people to Christ. Their conversion is our goal and so we have to “work on them.” We have an agenda for their life.

This is a reminder to us all that our relationships have to be genuine.

Our conversations need to be genuine.

We can be passionate about the gospel and eager to share, but we must respect the dignity and boundaries of the other person.

Offer to Pray
This idea formed part of the debate in the comments about Take the Risk, Offer to pray.

My offer to pray with the person on the phone was politely turned down. I respected that boundary. The question was then posted on an atheist bulletin board and a long chit/chat followed. Its a fun read over there, but communicates the same idea: respect a person’s boundaries.

Let me ask you this?
Do you have friends to share your faith with?
What is your motivation for that friendship?
Consider the last time you talked about Christ with them. Was the conversation genuine or based on your agenda?

One of the things that is stressed in our teaching is watching for those moments where you can plant a seed in a natural sort of conversation.

The encounter
Today, I was returning a phone call to a stranger seeking to buy one of my items from craigslist. We had spoken a few days earlier to make arrangements to pick up the item but plans fell thru. During today’s conversation, I was told that her dad had a medical emergency and that our little transaction was the “furthest thing from her mind.”

Here was a relational context — we were already conducting a business transaction. But with this crisis in her life, I offered to pray with her on the phone. I said, “I know you don’t know anything about me. Would you like me to pray with you about your Dad?”

Her response: “I don’t do the religious thing. Thanks, but no.” With that, the conversation came to an abrupt and awkward end.

What happened?
Did I plant a seed? Don’t know. Did I accomplish anything for the kingdom? Don’t know. Will my question irritate like salt in a wound? Don’t know. Did I have an evangelistic moment? Don’t know. It had potential. Can God do something with it? You bet.

When I offer to pray with people in response to something they have shared with me, usually they accept and I get to pray. I trust the Spirit of God to show me how to pray and sometimes, the direction of prayer goes straight to the heart. It often leads to further conversation, and sometimes I’m asked “How did you know to pray for that?” (word of knowledge, perhaps?)

Sometimes, I get to follow up with people and see how things turned out, and have the chance to ask the question: “Do you think our praying had anything to do with that?” “Could God have answered your prayer?” That leads to further opprotunities and so on.

The point:
I’ve learned to take the risk and offer to pray with people when they make small talk about some crisis the story of the life. Strangers, friends, business partners — doesn’t matter. I take the risk and ask “Can I pray with you now?”

It may be one piece (of many) that God will use to bring people to Himself and show Himself at work. You may not know how a person will respond, or where it will go, but the point is, take the risk.

Let me ask you this?
When did you last interrupt your busy day to offer and pray with a person who casually shared a crisis in the story of their life during small talk?

This week I met a friend for coffee at the local Starbucks. He and I have had a long ongoing discussion about faith. He would consider himself an ex-Christian, having had some rough experiences with how Christians do things.

When we first met a few years ago, he was very angry about all things Christian, the church, God, Jesus, and the Bible etc. Yet in the two or three years since that first meeting, he’s mellowed out to the place of forgiving the church for how it’s behaved.

His criticisms about Christianity and his driving thirst to explore other world religions are an outgrowth of bad personal experiences with the church. He is propelled to seek understanding and dialog – a thoroughly postmodern commitment to tolerance. He has no desire at this point to put a stake in the ground and claim one for himself.

His quest is not one for truth, but for understanding, as if those hairs can be split.

Surely there are questions of truth buried in there, because religions make truth claims and ultimately, one does have to decide what is true. Christianity makes truth claims, and like any world religion ultimately makes claims upon one’s life. What my friend is trying to do is avoid allowing any religion to make a claim upon his life.

Can one really make a decision to be indecisive? Is it intellectually credible to never make up your mind about the truth claims of any religion? He would argue that it’s not doubt, its not even skepticism. It’s not atheism, which is built on belief in God’s non-existence. It’s a refusal, I think, to believe anything.

By not deciding to claim any truth, he prevents any truth claim from having control over his life.

Let me ask you this?
How would you continue this discussion with my friend? What questions might you ask to further the discussion and help foster spiritual thirst?